Customer Reviews

Film School

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I basically picked up this album because Amazon and itunes kept pushing it on me. After having listened to tons of indie lately, I can say this album is easy to listen to but not all that original. I think the best part of Film School is their guitar, which achieves this paradox of being light and nimble yet full of substance and edgy. It really proves that rock guitars can be progressive and intriguing without fancy tricks or painful distortion. The guitar work reminded me of early Cure or maybe even New Order. Also, the uncomplicated and somewhat sparse beat structure of this album helps produce music that is simple and easy on the ears, while maintaining a sense of purpose and direction.

I knocked off a star because some of the album drags and blends together. Also the vocals are the same disaffected sound I've heard in a thousand other bands. "Pitfalls" is probably the only standout single, but as a whole the album is a good listen. Again, the guitars are key with this one.

Since the release of its debut album "A Brilliant Career" in 2001, the band has been through a number of personnel changes and a new label, and after a couple of stop-gap EPs, the band has finally released its second album.

"Film School" (10 tracks, 46 min.) kicks off appropriately with a 1 minute instrumental intro of wrangled guitars, to then slide into "On & On", one of the best tracks on the album, a very atmospheric wall of sound, reminiscent of Interpol-meets-My Bloody Valentine-meets-Lovedrug. The album can be divided in 2 sections: the first 8 tracks, and the remainder two. Indeed the album slowly but surely builds up towards a climax at the end of "11:11", bringing along the way a couple of shorter, almost radio-friendly tracks such as "Harmed" and "Breet", as well as some more majestic tracks such as "Pitfalls" and "He's a DeepDeep Lake". After "11:11" ends, the band must've realized that the album couldn't possibly continue in the same vein as before, and smartly the last 15 minutes of the album are very different, yet don't sound out of place. "Sick of the Shame" and "Like You Know" are accoustic-oriented dream-like songs (somewhat reminiscent of the Brian Jonestown Massacre sound) and the perfect way to close the album.

Film School (the band) brings sophisticated yet very accessible music, and is a delight to listen to. "Film School" (the album) is for me personally the best album of 2006 so far, and I would be surprised if this did not end up in my top 3 for the year. Highly recommended!

I appreciate bands like Ima Robot, Film School and electroclash artists for trying to add a little balance into Alternative music, or at least I appreciate Film School for trying to merge the beauty of Electronica with Alternative and allow it to simmer down to the always wonderous shoegazing while bringing back the trend of the New Wave you loved in the 80's. The thing about it is it is bands like these that are adding their own style into music making it worth your minutes and expanding your genres from just on band. Have you heard Depeche Mode's albums with a wind of Boards of Canada?

Call this the album that it would have made more sense for Maximo Park to create if you will but this album is America's response to all other international bands showing us off hard. (The band is from San Francisco, I believe) And their influence for this album is a mix of Electronica and 80's music (My Bloody Valentine. New Order? Depeche Mode?) all leading them to create an album that doesn't quite call the band in question an American Radiohead per se, but with half of the music smothered in swirling guitars, accompanying keyboards, and a leaders effort to push the band forward, a band that is trying to reach heights of originality.

Film School's debut (if you aren't counting their imported EP) kicks off with am intro wielding only swirls of guitar and electronics before finally bringing you into an illuminating "On and On" that may force your urge to name this band after Interpol and Elefant and a little bit of The Bravery in there, too, but will not let you throughout this entire album. Their current single "Pitfalls" may cause them to swing on the vine of similarity since everyone is trying to bring back New Wave these days, but worse can happen for a band like this. The backward keyboard melody should more than make you tell the difference. The second actual interlude "Garrison" is where Boards of Canada's wind starts blowing through the CD, before heading back into the record that will be likely to redefine the sound of "cool". If there is ever an album to chase after and count on for the safety of New Wave and the health of Alternative, I don't see a better candidate for leg-ups than Film School's latest.

Rating: 7.5/10

I have a couple of other Film School CDs and looked forward to getting this one. I gave it a spin and wasn't very impressed with a) the production quality seemed kind of noisy, b) while I can appreciate a band's evolution, I miss the Film School of Old with their smoother more 'shoe gazzy' sound. c) the vocals sounded sort of gothy (if that is a word), and not as good of quality as on previous recordings, they seem almost in conflict with the music, instead of that beautiful blend they used to have.

If the Chameleons and My Bloody Valentine formed a supergroup, it might sound like Film School. Now that post-punk new wave is in about its fourth iteration, the current set (Editors, Interpol, the Stills, and Film School have been looking to 1979-1983 for its primary influences (Comsat Angels, the Sound, the Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen, Cactus World News, Easterhouse, etc.). Fans of these bands should also check out some of the originals and see how great the stuff they were doing 20-25 years ago sounds! And we "old schoolers" are happy to see new groups like Film School keeping the torch burning.

This album sat in my collection for almost 3 months before I sat down one day and listened to it properly. Man was I blown away, so much so that I listened to it for around 5 weeks solid. I can now look back and say that it was probably the best album I listened to in the whole of 2006. Take a listen to "Ms. Connection" (not on the album) to get a taste. It's an instant click song. Super album!

let me preface this by saying that i am pretty exacting when it comes to bands who are similar to the ones i love--MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE BLACK WATCH, RADIOHEAD, NEW ORDER, and lots of other
beautifully dissonant outfits of that ilk. so, that said, Film School is in the school of (sorry, can't resist the pun) of bands who drone melodically, put in great guitar parts that chime and jangle and offset perfectly the distorto passages, and kind of reach for the majestic heights. the thing i can't get past here (despite the fact that the songs are good and memorable without being cloying or "too" catchy) is that the frontguy has a very very very weak voice--and i can usually get past that, i mean i like Dylan and Idaho and dinosaur jr. and a number of other bands with ticklishly off-kilter vocals. there really are too many "clams" in the lead vocals here. it's not charming anymore!
nevertheless, FS would be the sort of band that i'd definitely look to to buy the next record, just to see if they've gotten better--esp. as i love their writing style!

Not The Cure but an amazing simulation for much of this San Francisco-based but very Brit-indie styled band's debut. Greg Berton sounds more like Robert Smith as the songs progress, until by track 5, "Breet," I defy you to tell the difference. That's an oblique form of not only flattery but admiration, for I liked FS' take on early/mid-period Cure as much as the original band. Track 6, "11:11," starts off like "10:15 on a Saturday Night," and FS can summon up the nagging, melodic, puffy malaise of their influences well.

The last songs edge into My Bloody Valentine's less-distorted, earlier pop style; and The Verve perhaps can be recalled in these grooves, which rely heavily on atmospheric density and mordant moods. (This move towards more distortion and less Cure-like structure will continue on their 2007 follow-up, "Hideout," also reviewed by me.) I like this approach, even if the shift away on the latter portion from Smith-like vocals only accentuates the album's previous reliance on a venerable indie-pop template. I'm confused by the promotional material from their apt label-- given its forebears-- Beggars Banquet. I hear no trace of "The Who" or "drone" or "obscure electronica," not to mention "metal," and barely a trace now and then of "Floyd." I do hear "alternative 80s" clear if not always loud.

So, this may not be what those following the blurbs may expect, for the advertising words don't match the sounds here often unless "alternative 80s." It's perhaps a good choice for those already nostalgic for the days of "college rock" on the original artists released by Beggars Banquet, however. In this homage and reply to these bands, Film School provides a record that does not update these predecessors so much as thank them.

After reading reviews that Film School sounded like My Bloody Valentine... or some more polished version of it, I might have to disagree. Upon the first couple of listens I was thinking... is this "The Cure" or a new "TV21"? The vocals and arrangements are not too far off. I guess I can see the MBV shoegazing comparison from the swirling guitars, but not much else. I could point those interested to some current shoegazing bands... Fleeting Joys, LSD and the Search for God, and Japancakes re-interpretation of Loveless, as some great examples of where this category is going. These bands mentioned here do have sites on myspace and music is available on Amazon--take a listen....

I would say this was my favorite CD of last year. I am a fan of the "shoegazer" sound. (I saw My Bloody Valentine in 1992 at the old 9:30 club in Washington DC. Pretty good show as I recall - even if they did just play feedback ala "Metal Machine Music" the last 15 minutes or so.) Anyhow, I think this CD is very good. I haven't heard their '01 release - I plan on getting it someday. I think my favorites on this CD are "He's A Deep Deep Lake", "Like You Know", and "Pitfalls".